Wednesday, February 19, 2014
What I am teaching my grandkids about their future mates...
I have 5 grandkids -- two girls and three boys, ages 3-8. I expect they will all get married some day. And I already tell them the kind of girl or boy they should marry. I even make them repeat them back to me. So here are the things I tell my grands are requirements for their future mates.
Loves God and Jesus. I tell them this is more important than anything. I tell them not to even like someone who does not love God. I ask them if they want their someday children to love God. When they answer. "of course," then I tell them they better marry someone who will help them raise their kids to love God.
Loves them. I tell them they want to marry someone who is crazy in love with them. Someone who wants to spend the whole rest of their lives together. Someone who likes them, who thinks they are the greatest person in the whole world.
Loves babies. This is the one I tell my grandsons. Marry someone who loves babies. So watch girls around babies.
Loves little kids. I tell this one to my granddaughters. Watch how boys treat kids younger than them. That is how they will treat your kids someday.
And I tell them to see if little kids want to be around them. It is hard to fake out babies and little kids. They are drawn to good hearts.
And last, do they like dogs? I know that we are a dog family, but it is more than that. How people treat dogs tells you a lot about them. I personally just don't trust people who don't like dogs.
And watch how dogs respond to the people you like. You can't fake out a dog either. This test goes all the way back to when Marsha and I were dating. If my dog hadn't liked her it would have been a deal breaker. And if either of my kids brought someone home I wasn't sure about, you better believe I sent in the dog to check them out.
As they get older, I'll tell them how to know these things. Do they go to church? How do they treat their your siblings? And theirs. How do they treat the grandparents? Are they nice to people? And they will figure it out. But I sure want to plant seeds now.
Their parents will do a much better job of this, and they will be very intentional about it. But Pops has fun with it now.
And they think this is fun now, and my granddaughters can both already roll their eyes at Pops and his advice on picking a mate.
But I think this is important. After all, Mimi and Pops already pray for all five of our future grandchildren-in-law. Even if we don't know who they are for sure. But I do think I know the kind of people they will be.
So just curious ... what do you teach your kids/grandkids about who they should marry?
And God, I pray you will help them to choose as well as I did. Thanks.
Loves God and Jesus. I tell them this is more important than anything. I tell them not to even like someone who does not love God. I ask them if they want their someday children to love God. When they answer. "of course," then I tell them they better marry someone who will help them raise their kids to love God.
Loves them. I tell them they want to marry someone who is crazy in love with them. Someone who wants to spend the whole rest of their lives together. Someone who likes them, who thinks they are the greatest person in the whole world.
Loves babies. This is the one I tell my grandsons. Marry someone who loves babies. So watch girls around babies.
Loves little kids. I tell this one to my granddaughters. Watch how boys treat kids younger than them. That is how they will treat your kids someday.
And I tell them to see if little kids want to be around them. It is hard to fake out babies and little kids. They are drawn to good hearts.
And last, do they like dogs? I know that we are a dog family, but it is more than that. How people treat dogs tells you a lot about them. I personally just don't trust people who don't like dogs.
And watch how dogs respond to the people you like. You can't fake out a dog either. This test goes all the way back to when Marsha and I were dating. If my dog hadn't liked her it would have been a deal breaker. And if either of my kids brought someone home I wasn't sure about, you better believe I sent in the dog to check them out.
As they get older, I'll tell them how to know these things. Do they go to church? How do they treat their your siblings? And theirs. How do they treat the grandparents? Are they nice to people? And they will figure it out. But I sure want to plant seeds now.
Their parents will do a much better job of this, and they will be very intentional about it. But Pops has fun with it now.
And they think this is fun now, and my granddaughters can both already roll their eyes at Pops and his advice on picking a mate.
But I think this is important. After all, Mimi and Pops already pray for all five of our future grandchildren-in-law. Even if we don't know who they are for sure. But I do think I know the kind of people they will be.
So just curious ... what do you teach your kids/grandkids about who they should marry?
And God, I pray you will help them to choose as well as I did. Thanks.
